Police: Ukiah man confronts robber with crowbar

A man suspected of breaking into a garage in Ukiah on Sunday night and stealing a set of tires was arrested after an altercation with the homeowner he robbed, police said.

The homeowner called 911 at about 6 p.m. and said a man armed with a knife and bolt cutters was stealing things from his garage in the 600 block of Talmage Road, according to a police report.

The homeowner, who “had been the victim of several burglaries over the past month,” grabbed a crowbar and confronted the man in his garage before police arrived, the Ukiah Police Department said in the report.

The man was leaving with a set of tires he had taken from the garage when the homeowner pointed the crowbar at him and “attempted, verbally, to detain him,” police said.

The man taunted the homeowner, challenging him to hit him with the crowbar, police said. He then approached the homeowner, swinging at him with the bolt cutters he was holding.

The homeowner fell over and the man left.

When police arrived, they found a man holding bolt cutters down the block from the home and arrested him at gunpoint.

Officers found a folding knife, methamphetamine and a smoking pipe in the man’s pockets, according to the report.

The man, 30-year-old Marco Fermin-Garcia of Ukiah, was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools.

The homeowner had minor cuts after the altercation. Police said “it was unclear if his injuries were as a result of being struck with the bolt cutters, falling down, or a combination of the two.”

Footage from surveillance cameras at the house showed the robbery suspect using bolt cutters to cut the lock on the garage, police said.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.